This decision was going to be the hockey version of Tom Brady vs. Drew Bledsoe.

In the middle of the season, UConn interim men’s hockey coach David Berard had a .500 club that was plodding along. Throughout the first half, Berard used goalies Garrett Bartus and Matt Grogan in a platoon system, with Bartus, a senior, seeing the majority of time.

It was no surprise. Bartus was the national leader in saves last season and held a number of program records. Like Bledsoe, the former New England Patriots quarterback, Bartus was seen as one of the major keys to the Huskies’ system.

And like Brady, Grogan spent most of his time watching. Three-and-a-half years worth of watching, in fact.

“I definitely wanted to play, and I prepared as if I was going to play the entire time I was here,” Grogan, a junior, said Wednesday night. “I just kept working.”

Following a 5-0 loss to Mercyhurst on Jan. 19, in which Bartus played, UConn had then-No. 2 (and current No. 1) Quinnipiac coming up in a televised game three days later and a 9-11-2 record.

Berard turned his lonely eyes to Grogan, who had played all of 10 games over three years. Grogan recorded a career-high 48 saves as the Huskies stayed with the Bobcats before losing, 2-1, on a power-play goal in the third period.

Three days later, Berard stuck with Grogan against American International. Twenty-one saves later, UConn had a 3-1 win. He stayed in goal the next night against the Yellow Jackets and made 32 saves in a 1-1 tie.

“I’ve just been taking it day by day, and game by game,” Grogan said.

Like Patriots coach Bill Belichick did in 2001, keeping Brady as the starter en route to a Super Bowl-winning season, Berard stayed with the hot hand. Grogan has been sensational, and so have the 19-13-4 Huskies, who head into an AHA semifinal tonight against Mercyhurst — yes, the same team that put a five-goal whupping on them two months ago that kind of got the ball rolling.

But it’s a different Huskies team now.

“Sometimes, it’s all about timing,” Berard said. “As Matt was getting the opportunity to play, our team was also becoming a better team. We were playing better together and understanding what it takes to win and be consistent as a hockey team.”

Earlier this week, Grogan was named to the All-Atlantic Hockey Association Third Team, the first Husky goalie to be named All-AHA since Beau Erickson in 2008. Grogan is 14-3-3 this season with a 1.88 goals-against average, which is second in the league and 10th in Division I. His .939 save percentage also is second in the league and fifth nationally.

He’s started the last 15 games, and since the loss to Quinnipiac, UConn is 10-2-2.

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“Certainly Matt has put himself in that position based on his performance,” Berard said. “Garrett’s a great goalie and has done a lot of great things for our program over four years. We just felt going down the stretch, whoever gave us the best shot to win, we would go with him.”

This has been quite a topsy-turvy season for the Huskies. Last June, UConn announced that it would be joining the Hockey East Conference for the 2014-15 season. But in November, longtime coach Bruce Marshall — who had taken a club that played in an outdoor arena when he began 25 years ago and turned it into a Division I program that won a MAAC championship in 2000 — took a medical leave of absence, and ultimately resigned in January.

Marshall had a major influence on Grogan, which is why the Arizona native never went to another program despite sitting the bench.

“He stuck with me throughout the times, even though I wasn’t playing,” Grogan said. “There was really no reason to leave. I wasn’t thrilled with not playing, but I saw Garrett was one of the best goalies in the league, and he’s great to practice with every day. Obviously, academics too.”

Suddenly, Berard, in his second season, had a lot on his plate. But it was nothing he couldn’t handle, having been involved with Providence College for 15 years.

Having mature players also helped, too. The team came together after Marshall’s departure, and despite taking a back seat Grogan said Bartus has been a tremendous help to him during this late-season run.

“Now that we’ve been on this strong in the last four or five weeks, we’ve developed that consistency. We play well,” Berard said. “I think you can probably could put any of our goalies in net at this point, because we’re playing much better as a hockey team.”